UB Programs At-A-Glance

Dance

Department of Theatre & Dance

College of Arts and Sciences
285 Alumni Arena
North Campus
Buffalo, NY 14260-5030

Phone: 716.645.6898
Fax: 716.645.6992
Web: www.cas.buffalo.edu/depts/theatredance

Robert Knopf
Chair

William E. Thomas
Director

M.A. Casarella
Assistant to the Chair; Director, Undergraduate Advising

About the Program

The Department of Theatre and Dance offers BA and BFA degrees in dance. Prospective majors should audition and meet with undergraduate advisor as early as possible. All dance courses have reading and writing requirements, attendance requirements, dance concert attendance requirements, and practical examinations. An audition is required for acceptance into the program.

For transfer students, course requirements may be adjusted based on placement auditions. If lower-level courses are waived, additional courses may be assigned. This policy applies to all majors.

About Our Degrees

Acceptance Criteria

Minimum GPA of 2.0 overall.
Minimum GPA of 2.5 in the following six prerequisite courses: TH 101,
TH 106; TH 135 or TH 136; THD 202, THD 214, THD 264.
Minimum grade of C+ in all required courses.
Audition.
Interview with program director.

Foreign language requirement: 0-16 credits
Proficiency in a foreign language through the second semester of the second year or its equivalent, to be demonstrated through classroom courses or through alternatives outlined under the General Education requirements (B.F.A. programs are excluded). S/U grading may not be selected for courses taken to fulfill this requirement.

Acceptance Information

Number of applicants/year: 180 (majors)
Number of accepted majors/year: 25
Total number of majors currently enrolled: 150

Advanced Placement

When lower-level courses are waived because of prior training, additional upper-level courses in the same area are assigned.

Degree Requirements

See the Undergraduate Catalog.

About Our Facilities

The $50 million Center for the Arts benefits UB students directly through outstanding public performance and exhibition facilities. The center houses the Departments of Art, Media Study, and Theatre & Dance, showcasing both academic and public presentations of the arts in its many intriguing and interdisciplinary forms. The Department of Music is housed in adjacent Slee and Baird Halls, allowing music students to also discover a genuine intermingling of the arts.

Theatre and dance students have a variety of theatres and studios in which to work and learn. The range and complexity of theatre spaces allow students great versatility in their professional preparation. Supporting this effort are excellent shop facilities for costumes, scenery, properties, paint, and makeup.

The 400-seat Drama Theatre is intimate, with inviting decor and technical advantages that make it ideally suited to theatre and dance department productions and chamber operas. The orchestra pit can accommodate approximately forty musicians.

Mainstage is an 1,800-seat theatre that houses the majority of the professional touring companies at the Center for the Arts. Other features include a custom-built orchestra shell, allowing stage concerts to take place without the need for microphones and speakers. Computer-controlled panels on the walls of the auditorium are designed to adjust the acoustics at the touch of a button.

Also available to UB arts students are twin black box theatres that allow almost any kind of theatrical presentation, especially multimedia and experimental works. A 200-seat media study screening room can be used for departmental programming, as well as for the public presentation of films, speakers, panel discussions, poetry readings, and press conferences.

Dance studios are spacious with Marley flooring over maple-sprung wood floors engineered for maximum resiliency, twelve-foot mirrors, upper-level observation spaces, and specially designed sound systems.

The students of theatre and dance enjoy a working relationship with Alleyway Theatre, Artpark, Buffalo United Artists, Irish Classical Theatre Co., Buffalo City Ballet, Buffalo Contemporary Dance Co., MusicalFare, Shakespeare in Delaware Park, Studio Arena Theatre, Theatre of Youth, and Western New York affiliated Dance Masters of America dance establishments. Studio Arena is a LORT theatre located in the heart of the theatre district in downtown Buffalo.

About Our Courses

Suggested Introductory Courses:


The typical class size for:

Freshman/introduction courses is: 25-30
Sophomore/intermediate courses is: 15-30
Upper level/advanced courses is: 15-20

In the Dance program, what do teaching assistants (TA’s) do?

They serve as demonstrators, give corrections, and generally assist in the studio classes and receive practical experience in structuring a class, under continual supervision from the faculty member.

For course descriptions, please see the Undergraduate Catalog.

About Our Faculty

The dance faculty is intensely involved in a wide range of dance and theatre-related activities extending beyond the campus, including: American College Dance Festival Association, Black College Dance Exchange, the Joffrey Ballet, Philadanco, the Western New York Institute for Arts in Education, choreography for state Miss America pageants, Greater Buffalo Opera, Irish Classical Theatre, Shakespeare in the Park, MusicalFair, Studio Arena, Tennessee Reparatory Co., the Buffalo Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts, and master classes and workshops across the country and abroad. The faculty's multifaceted activities have won the program widespread recognition.

The UB Center for the Arts is the home of the National Dance Masters of America Teachers’ Training School and has the distinct honor of having hosted the Jazz Dance World Congress for three unprecedented years: 1999, 2000, and 2003.

See a list of our undergraduate faculty.

Practical Experience and Special Academic Opportunities

Notable Program Features

The Department of Theatre and Dance offers BA and BFA degree programs in which students may study a broad range of production, design, technology, performance, historical, and literary aspects of theatre, dance, and music theatre. A central curriculum of courses is shared by all theatre, dance, and music theatre majors from which students go on to pursue separate majors in theatre, dance, music theatre, or theatre and dance areas. Auditions are required for entrance into the BA Dance and all BFA programs.

Department classes balance scholarship and practical training. In theatre, there is a full sequence of courses in theatre technology and design, acting, playwriting, directing, and history and literature. In dance, there is a full sequence of courses in jazz, ballet, contemporary dance, tap, choreography, teaching methods, history and research.

Performances and productions are essential parts of the curriculum, providing hands-on learning experiences. There are four performance spaces in the Center for the Arts: the Drama Theatre with 400 seats and the 1800 seat Main Stage, and two multipurpose black box spaces. The Katharine Cornell Theatre provides added dimensions to performance opportunities for student directed productions. The department’s Zodiaque Dance Company and Zodiaque Studio Dance Ensemble Company perform at the university and present in the community; membership is by audition held at the beginning of the fall semester. Young Choreographers Showcase, featuring the work of student choreographers by invitation of the dance faculty, performs in the spring semester. These auditions are open to all University at Buffalo students, regardless of major.


The theatre and music theatre programs both offer one major proscenium production and one black box production each year. Recent works include: Merrily We Roll Along, A Winter’s Tale, The Trial, The Good Women of Szechuan, Steel Pier, Spinning into Butter. These performance opportunities are augmented by classroom projects that culminate in a performance at the end of each semester, as well as “Poor Theatre," directed by the faculty.

Dancers Workshop, a student-run organization, also generates a production annually. Workshop advisors are members of the faculty. The GUILD, a student theatre and dance organization, acts as a liaison between students and faculty, and generates performances through Proba, a student run production company for workshop productions.

Students may shape the courses that complete the requirements for the B.A. major by following sequences in such areas as general dance, music theatre, dance performance, theatre performance, choreography, design/technology, dance teaching, playwriting, directing, history, and literature.

Students in dance work with nationally and internationally known guest faculty, directors, and choreographers in yearly residencies with the UB Center for the Arts. Annual residencies have included: American Ballet Studio Co., Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Co., Doug Varone and Dancers, Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago, and Jose Limon, and Taylor 2 Co.

Auditions are required for all dance and music theatre majors.

Undergraduate Research and Practical Experience

Internships
Internships in dance teaching are available. The Department of Theatre & Dance encourages students to seek out this opportunity, and expects it of majors. A partnership with the Arts in Education Institute of Western New York places qualified dance majors in public school teaching residencies.

Honors, Awards, and Scholarships

Awards

  • Amanda C. Occhino Award
  • College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Department Award
  • College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Senior Award
  • Departmental Honors
  • Julia Pardee Prize [Awarded for excellence in writing in theatre, dance or music theatre]
  • Performing and Creative Arts Scholarships
  • Talent Scholarships



Scholarships
Performing and Creative Arts Scholarships are available through the University Honors Program. Auditions are required for applicants. To qualify for consideration, students must have a minimum high school average of 90 percent and a combined SAT score of at least 1230 or ACT score of 28. Transfer honors applicants must hold a minimum GPA of 3.8. The Perry Watkins scholarship is available to African American freshman students majoring in design/technology. Talent-based scholarships are also available to all students. Auditions, portfolios, and a personal interview are required for all scholarship students.

Extracurricular Activities

The principle performing spaces for all of the following are the theatres and studios in the Center for the Arts. See www.cas.buffalo.edu/depts/theatredance/performstudiospaces/venues.html.

Dancers Workshop

Dancers Workshop is a student organization that offers non-credit performing and related opportunities to the university community at various levels of ability and interest. Workshop advisers are members of the dance faculty.

From the Wings

From the Wings is a student organization that offers non-credit performance opportunities primarily, but not exclusively to music theatre majors. Faculty advisors are members of the music theatre faculty.

The Guild

The Guild is managed entirely by students. It hosts opening night receptions, is the liaison among department faculty, staff, and students, and produces evenings of new works by students.

Young Choreographers Showcase

Young Choreographers Showcase is faculty directed/mentored. Advanced-level student choreographers are invited by the faculty to present concerts of their works.

Zodiaque Dance Company

The Zodiaque Dance Company is a performance training company that requires a major time commitment. Membership for the year is by audition early each fall.

Zodiaque Studio Dance Ensemble

The Ensemble is a performance training company with a fall semester commitment.

For more information on the above, please see Performance Opportunities.

See the UB Student Association.

Complementary Programs and Courses

Majors that Complement Dance


Minors that Complement Dance


Courses Outside the Major that Could Improve Employment Opportunities

Career Information and Further Study

Career Choices

  • Arts manager
  • Choreographer
  • Company director/artistic director
  • Dance consultant
  • Dance costume designer
  • Dance critic
  • Dance historian/writer
  • Dance notator
  • Dance performer
  • Dance production
  • Dance teacher
  • Dance therapist
  • Stage director
  • Studio owner/teacher


Alumni in Dance have been employed in the following ways:

Positions in dance at Disney World, Disney Studios & Universal Studios (Florida), Tokyo Disneyland, Eric Hawkins Dance Co., Hubbard St. Dance Co., Urban Bush Women, Complexions, Giordano Dance Co., River North Dance Co., and Murray Louis Dance Co.; and performers/choreographers in several national and international touring companies of major musicals, television, music videos, Las Vegas attractions, and cruise ships. They also teach for colleges, universities, elementary/secondary schools, and studios. They are dance company producers/directors, as well as Broadway and Off-Broadway performers/choreographers.

What percentage of graduates goes on to find related employment?

70%

What percentage of graduates goes on to graduate school?

30%

Links to Further Information About This Program

Last Modified: Tuesday, 7-Nov-2006 10:26:06 EST